Jack came up behind me, slipped me into a jacket, being careful to watch my wounded side, and I laughed lightly. “Jesus, can y’all hold my dick so I can take a piss, too?”
Chuckles sounded, but I didn’t move much more. I couldn’t. I was so freaking tired I could barely breathe.
“Sorry man, I draw the line at putting makeup on you.” Jack quipped as he started rubbing in the camouflage paint that would hide the pale complexion of my face, as well as my arms. I noted that he himself was decked out in much the same attire, but didn’t put any further thought into it.
Sam handed me my rifle and an ear bud once Jack was done. I threw the strap over my shoulder, stuck the earpiece in my ear, and braced myself before giving Elliott a thumbs-up. Then I was moving.
I gritted my teeth against the jolt as I hit the trunk of the tree with my body, but never called out for a halt.
Maneuvering myself into the tree was another matter. By the time I’d managed to do so, I was clammy and nauseous, as well as seeing black spots.
A trickle of warmth leaked down my abs, and disappeared into my jeans, and I knew I was bleeding again.
Reaching into my pocket, I withdrew the pads that Cheyenne had stuffed in their as we left the room, and shoved them unceremoniously against my wound before tying it with the Ace Bandage.
“We’re moving in. It’ll take us about twenty minutes to get there. There’re a couple of marshes we have to cross before we’ll even make it on the grounds. Then there’re the trip wires and motion detector devices we have to counteract. How many men are outside?” Sam’s authoritative voice asked in my ear.
I brought my scope up to my shoulder and started counting. “Fifteen outside. All armed with AR-15s. I can see two in the windows.” I called back quietly.
I scanned the windows of the house one by one until I came to the very last one. I don’t know if it was instinct, or just basic knowledge that she would be in that room, but with everything that was in me, I knew she was behind that wall.
It took everything I had to turn away from that window, but I continued to scan the area. Listening while everyone continued to check in on where they were, and Sam gave instructions.
“All right, James. We’re in position. Take the ones out on the edges. All that you can. When you’ve got them all down, let me know.” Sam commanded.
Piece of cake.
My sniper rifle was sporting a shiny new silencer, which was also why it’d gained a good three pounds in weight. Resting my back against the trunk of the tree I was in, and the stock up against my cheek, I started taking my shots. All fifteen men, who were scattered over an acre of land, went down within ten minutes.
Not my best, time wise, but it would do. “Alright, you’re green.”
A wave of exhaustion seemed to pour through me after I was done, but I didn’t remove my eye from the activity surrounding the small cabin. Although I scanned the area, I mostly kept my scope trained on the furthest window, praying I’d see my girl.
***
Shiloh
I’d nearly killed myself two separate times.
Although Glen had never returned to make his threat a reality, I knew it was just a matter of time. I’d tried to escape not even ten minutes after arriving at this shit hole, only to be caught as soon as I’d tripped one of the motion detectors, enabling them to find me easily.
Then I’d played possum, acting as if I was passed out, and tried to escape again, only for the same results.
Needless to say, the men were not happy campers. They didn’t like that a woman had given them the slip, and were more than happy to show me their displeasure.
My escape attempts had only earned me another broken arm, the same one that had just healed only a few short months ago, a broken leg, and a broken nose. My jaw was still just as broken as it’d been in the van, and I passed out every time I tried to push even the minutest amount of bread into my mouth that they’d provided me.
Thus, I’d stopped trying to eat. Only drinking the water from the tap with a straw that they’d been nice enough to provide me.
Every time I looked at my broken arm the bile would rush up my esophagus, and I’d have to choke it back down, or risk suffocating on my own vomit since I couldn’t open my mouth enough for the vomit to escape.
I hadn’t seen Glen since the van incident, and prayed to all that was holy that I wouldn’t. There was just no way on earth I’d be able to keep him away from me. I had no fight left in me, which was why I’d been laying in the same spot on the lumpy futon for the last half a day.
A sound, almost imperceptible, whispered through the stagnant room, and I moved my eyes, looking for the source. When I didn’t see anything, I let my eyes drift closed, thinking this was surely the end if I was hallucinating, when the same sound, louder now, came from behind my closed lids.
My eyes snapped open, sure now that I’d heard the sound, and I came face to face with a green man.
Great. My fucked up mind had conjured The Hulk. Wonderful.
Then The Hulk gently picked me up in his massive arms, and carried me towards the bedroom door.
I was like a ragdoll in The Hulk’s arms, limp and in pain, with no recourse but to lie there, and go wherever The Hulk wanted me to go.
“Got her.” The Hulk said.
My eyes closed on their own accord, staying closed as the sway of my body being moved at a high rate of speed caused my broken bones to jolt with each pounding step. Bile rose in my throat again, and I swallowed convulsively to keep it down. Then, blessedly, I passed out again.
***
Sam
“James? Copy?” I called quietly.
No answer.
“James.” I snapped.
No answer.
“Sebastian, I need whoever you left behind to check on him. Make sure he doesn’t fall out of the tree.” I called into my mic.
“Copy.” Sebastian answered.
Shiloh was curled into my arms like a Cabbage Patch Doll. I noted that her nose and jaw were well beyond swollen, as was the arm she’d broken a couple months prior. Her hair was matted into a messy ponytail at the top of her head with blood, indicating a head wound of some type.
It’d taken a while for the thought of a sister to grow on me, but now I couldn’t imagine my life without her. To know that she’d suffered at the hands of these men set me on a course that I’d never thought to be on. I’d always prided myself in making sure that I complied with the law, but over the past four years, the letter of the law hadn’t done me shit. In fact, it’d only hindered me when all I wanted to do was save the woman I loved.
It took us fifteen minutes, exactly, from the time we left the cabin to get back to the tree that we’d left James in. Everyone was gathered around, looking up at James hanging from the harness we’d managed to get him in.
“What are y’all waiting for?” I snapped to the men ogling James. “Get him down.”
“How?” Diablo, one of the members of the MC asked.
“Climb up there, dipshit.” Sebastian said as he, too, walked up.
James was a big man, so with him being dead weight, and not being able to help at all, it was some time before they were able to get him down safely.
Although he looked a little paler than he’d been originally, he was still breathing and had a steady and strong pulse.
We loaded James and Shiloh into the back of my Suburban, and carefully drove out, leaving Sebastian and Silas to figure out what to do about Glen. Although this battle had been won, the war was far from over.
Chapter 25
Lord give me patience. Cause if you give me strength, I’m going to need bail money to go with it.
-E-card
Shiloh
My eyes narrowed on the bitchy nurse who’d, yet again, refused to let me leave my bed to go see James who was four doors down from me.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Mackenzie. Mr. Allen isn’t receiving visitors. He’s requested that no one bother him excep
t for his daughter.” Nurse Bitch said as she breezed out of the room, purposefully ignoring my frantic waving.
That bitch. She knew I couldn’t call after her, nor could I press the little goddamn button since she’d moved said button halfway across the room.
I’d had surgery on my jaw, and then had it wired shut. Now all I was able to eat was food that came from a straw. Let me tell you, that’s something that sucks. Why you ask? Because the hospital doesn’t take the time to blend each individual food separately. They pile it all into one heaping pile, toss it into the mixer, and then blend it into one big pile of shit.
It tastes even worse. Therefore, I’m starving because I could only stomach a quarter of the food. Which would’ve been my next question had she stayed longer than the required time it took for her to replace my IV line which I’d purposefully pulled out to get someone in here.
Aside from the broken jaw, I also had a broken tibia, as well as a broken ulna in my left arm.
Therefore, getting around was not the easiest thing to do. At all.
Nevertheless, I’d have to go for it if I wanted to survive. Starving to death didn’t sound like the best thing in the world to do. That and I missed James and Janie, not to mention my brothers and father like crazy.
I’d been awake for well over eight hours now, and not once had anyone come to see me. I was getting really upset.
The first obstacle was getting up. With the fucking bed remote all the way across the room. Using the IV pole for support, I lifted my body up, managing not to jar my leg too much. My jaw, on the other hand, was a different story all together. It throbbed with each movement of my body. Which probably meant that all my other various broken bones and bruises were hurting, too, but the pain in my jaw was just overshadowing it.
The dumb nurse did happen to leave the beside roller table though, and it helped me immensely when I leaned on it. Instead of rolling the IV pole with me, I just removed my IV. Then I managed to grab the bag that contained my pee, flipped it over until you couldn’t see its contents, and started making my way slowly to the door.
Once there, I had a decision to make. Left, or right. I know she said he was four doors down from me, but I didn’t know in which direction, and the possibility could really turn dire if I had to walk one way, and then the other if I chose poorly.
Then I heard James deep voice, slightly raised and near panic.
Hobbling along, I followed the sound of his voice like a beacon in the night. I’d just gotten to his door when I finally could make out what exactly he was saying, and what I heard nearly made my heart stop.
“When is she due? What makes you think it was mine? I only slept with her once.” James snarled.
I was hyperventilating, and not from the exertion of getting to his room.
“Listen Layne, I know you think that it’s mine, but you’ve got to know, we used protection. She said...” He trailed off as Layne, whoever he wass, started to yell.
I could hear the sound of the man’s voice raised to a decibel that made you listen. His tone didn’t allow for anything else. His voice held power, and you’d listen, or likely pay for it.
“Okay, listen, what happened between us was consensual. Now, what the hell is going on?” James snapped, grimacing when his shout jolted his chest, causing him pain.
“Jesus Christ, you’ve got to be kidding me. When’d this happen? Is she okay?” He rasped.
My heartbeat accelerated, my one good leg went weak, and I knew he was worried about this woman, whoever she was. She must be important to him. Did he love her? Was he in love with her before me? Was he even in love with me?
Just as I started to turn around, Sam rounded the corner, and his face turned from impassive to downright thunderous when he saw me leaning against the table and the wall for support.
His steps sped up until he was almost running and caught me just as my one good leg collapsed. “Oh, Shiloh. So stubborn you are. The nurse told me you weren’t to be disturbed, that you didn’t want to see us. Are you upset with me?”
I scowled at him as he scooped me up, piss bag and all. “No. Nurse wouldn’t let me see James.” I said through my teeth. I wasn’t sure how coherent I sounded with my mouth wired shut, but I was guessing he’d gotten the drift.
“She’s just jealous. I think her and James had a fling a few years ago.” He spoke as he carried me into James room.
James eyes looked haunted and distant, but never once stopped speaking to Layne about the details of the baby mama’s assault, even after he saw me enter the room. When the conversation continued with him saying yes and no, and then lowering his voice when he needed to speak more than syllables, I’d had enough. Guess the nurse was right after all.
“Room please.” I instructed Sam, turning my face away from James sprawled body and into Sam’s chest. The burst of pain at my jaw hitting his chest was nothing compared to the pain in my heart.
He carried me away, and I took one last glance at the perfect muscles of James’ arms, the ripped sculpture of his chest, and the white bandage that bisected his midsection. “What had happened to him?”
I was in the hall before Sam answered the question that I wasn’t aware I’d voiced. “He got shot on the way to work two days ago. Right about the time you were taken by Glen.”
At the mention of Glen’s name, I shuttered. “Is he dead?”
The hope in my voice must have registered with Sam, but his grimace shot that hope to hell. “Sorry, Shiloh.”
The smooth cadence of his voice, followed by the rhythmic walking made my eyes heavy, and it was all I could do to stay awake. Sam placed me gently on the bed, adjusting all the lines and covers before he started to back away.
“Don’t leave.” I pleaded.
“Okay.” He agreed, and then I was asleep.
My dreams were anything but happy. They were filled with a crazed Glen trying to re-break my jaw, James and another woman holding their child, as well as Janie in the peripheral, mad that I never came back again.
“What are you doing out of bed?” The nasty nurse from earlier asked.
My eyes blinked open, and I turned my head until I got a face full of chest.
It wasn’t the same chest that I’d cried myself to sleep against earlier, either. No this one was the one I loved. The one that had a huge bandage across his chest.
He was on his side lying next to me. One of James’ dog tags was caught haphazardly in the gauze, while the other dangled free against his pec.
His large arm was slung across my body, holding me in my sleep.
“Are you awake yet, sleepy head?” James’ chest rumbled.
“No.” I snapped, or tried to, anyway.
It came out more like ‘non’ and spit dribbled down my chin, which inevitably ran down his chest shortly after. I’d forgotten about my wired jaw for a split second, but it didn’t let me forget it. His laughter startled me out of my mortification, and I looked up as he raised his arm, wiping the slobber off his chest, and then on the bed sheet before bringing his hand up to my hair.
“Where’d you go earlier?” He asked softly, ignoring the crabby nurse at our backs.
“When?” I asked.
“Shin?” He asked, pulling back, confused in my answer.
His hand went down towards the bottom of the bed, lifting the covers from my feet. His body remained in place, the cords of his neck straining with the effort to remain as still as possible
My off-white cast poked free, followed by my hospital-issued faded blue non-slip sock.
“James.” I called, wanting his eyes.
“Mr. Allen, I’ve got a chair for you.” The nurse urged tightly.
The pain was evident in his face as he moved, and I knew the movement to check on me was causing him discomfort, but he was too worried about something that was wrong with me rather than being worried about what he was doing to himself.
When he finally looked up and caught my eyes, I reached for his hand.
&nbs
p; He gave me his hand, and I pulled it up until my head rested on our clasped hands.
His eyes went soft, and he smiled at me. “Are you okay?”
Knowing that we just needed to get the elephant out of the closet, I asked. “Baby?”
I think he purposefully misheard, because his eyes left mine, focusing on something above my head. “Janie’s fine. Shaken up, and understandably so, but she’s staying with Grammy and Grampy Todd.”
“I’m going to get an orderly to help you back in bed, Mr. Allen.” The nurse said quickly before leaving the room after she made her third attempt to get James off the bed and into the waiting wheelchair.
I snickered at the emphasis on Grampy, but didn’t give him a chance to retreat. My hand untangled from his, and I took a hold of his beard, holding on tightly so he couldn’t look away when I asked my next question.
“James...baby?” I asked again.
He sighed. “Fuck me.”
I didn’t let him go, and he didn’t try to turn his head again. “Please?”
“You’re hungry for peas?” He asked with a smile turning up the corners of his mouth.
I yanked hard on the beard and he winced, but his smile didn’t wane. “Did your brother ever really tell you what we do?”
I thought about what my brother did as a mechanic and custom bike designer. “Bikes?” I asked, confused.
He shook his head.
“Alright, let me tell you, but don’t interrupt me until I get it all out, okay? Please?” He asked softly.
At my nod, he continued.
“We’re motorcycle mechanics, builders, and designers. Although, that’s our day business. On the side, we help battered women escape dangerous and volatile situations. We’ve relocated thirty-five women. Teal, the woman you overheard the phone call about earlier, was one of those women. With me so far?” He asked.
I nodded.
“Teal knew she was pregnant before she was relocated. For all intents and purposes, though, that child is mine. I made that promise to her before she left that if something happened to her, I would take over custody of the child and do everything in my power to keep the child out of the hands of her ex-husband, and I’ll stick by it. I know the situation isn’t ideal, but there isn’t one single thing I can do about it. Nor would I want to. If it keeps an innocent child out of the clutches of a monster, then that’s the way it’s going to be.” James rasped.
Texas Tornado Page 27
